


Falling, I'll Catch You While You're Falling

by WobblyJellyfish



Category: RWBY
Genre: Cuddles, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Kissing, Love Confessions, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 08:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24846934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WobblyJellyfish/pseuds/WobblyJellyfish
Summary: They were teetering on the edge of something, and they were going to fall any second.
Relationships: Jaune Arc/Lie Ren/Pyrrha Nikos/Nora Valkyrie
Comments: 11
Kudos: 36





	Falling, I'll Catch You While You're Falling

**Author's Note:**

> Me? Writing more than one fic in a year? It's more likely than you think!
> 
> This was inspired by a conversation in the JNPR discord (waves at HarmonyLight and KatMotif) that was just so cute I couldn't resist. I hope you all enjoy this fluff on fluff on fluff.

They really ought to have moved by now. It was getting late, their bowls of snacks were still strewn around the floor and it would have been wise to at least move them and their haphazard blanket fort from the floor before going to bed so they wouldn’t trip over everything in the morning. But the movie was long since over, and they hadn’t even attempted to _move_ , let alone get up; happy to lie in their pile of each other and blankets, lit by the gentle glow from the bedside lamps.

It was far from the first time this had happened, and not just on movie night, either. What would start out as a cuddle surrounded by blankets would inevitably become more of a heap, draped across each other. Not that they minded. Nora certainly didn’t mind, from where she was huddled somehow both on and between Ren and Jaune’s laps, her head rested on Ren’s shoulder. Pyrrha was sat more on the floor than usual, owing to a knee injury she’d gotten that afternoon in a training exercise gone awry – her aura had already healed the worst of it and would have fully healed it by morning, but she’d still had a small limp when they’d all settled in, so she sat further down and kept her leg elevated on a pillow.

Since the end of the movie, they’d simply stayed like that, Nora chattering (quietly, for once) with Jaune and Pyrrha while Ren stayed silent, likely dozing or completely asleep while curled around her. Jaune was excitedly suggesting ideas for the holidays, that his parents would be delighted to have them all over and if Pyrrha could convince her parents to let her stay, causing both girls to giggle. “We could do half the holidays with your family and half with mine,” Pyrrha said, perching her chin on Jaune’s leg. “My parents would be more than happy for you to stay, they’re already eager to meet you all anyway.”

“That’s a great idea! And they live in Argus, right?” Jaune asked, grinning when Pyrrha nodded. “One of my sisters lives there too! We could get one of the streetcars and go see her and her family!”

“Wonderful!” Pyrrha beamed.

“The holidays are gonna be great!” Nora exclaimed, careful not to move to quickly and wake Ren. “I can’t wait to meet your families! Hey Pyr, we should teach his sisters some of our combat moves.” She smiled widely as Pyrrha stifled a giggle, and when Jaune’s expression quickly turned to fear of that prospect, both girls burst into laughter, Jaune following suit a couple seconds later.

Once they’d quietened down, Jaune sighed, still smiling, and pulled them all closer; Pyrrha now sitting more between his legs rather than in front, with Nora and the still quiet Ren pressed more into his side. A tiny, momentary wince escaped between Pyrrha’s teeth with the movement, causing her teammates to look down at her, concerned. “Is your leg okay?” Jaune asked, blue eyes glinting with worry.

“It’s fine, I just moved too fast,” Pyrrha said, smiling reassuringly. She slowly bent and straightened her leg a few times, the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth the only indicator that anything was even wrong. Fully straightening her leg back out, Pyrrha backed up more so that her head was resting back against Jaune’s stomach. “Honestly it’s more annoying than painful now. At least it will be fully healed when we wake up.”

“I still can’t believe you just jumped straight down from that tree without looking,” Nora teased, and giggled when Pyrrha’s face scrunched as she leaned down to boop her on the nose.

“That Ursa was heading right for you three! I had to get down quickly!” Pyrrha pouted a little, but it melted quickly as Nora threaded her fingers through her scarlet strands and Jaune settled his hand on her shoulder, his finger idly drawing circles along bone.

“And we’re grateful for you saving us,” Jaune said softly. “But don’t go making jumping blindly into danger for us a habit, okay? We like having you here instead of the med ward, you know.”

Pyrrha chuckled. “Sure thing, fearless leader.” Reaching up, she gently ran her thumb across his chin, before rolling so she was leaning against him on her side, and nuzzling her head more into Nora’s touch in her hair as they all fell into comfortable, contented calm.

They were warm here. They were _safe_ here. Not long after the dance, the four of them had rearranged their dorm, which had only really consisted of moving all of their beds together and shuffling the bedside tables around accordingly. It had never been awkward, just content and cosy and easily some of the best sleep any of them had had in a long time. Nothing between them had ever been awkward, not even when they’d first moved in together as sort-of strangers. They’d gone from strangers to friends in not even a day, and in the rest of their time together at Beacon they’d been gravitating closer and closer. By the time Vytal had been and gone, it hadn’t been uncommon to see all of JNPR together around the school, huddled in the library ‘studying’ for their upcoming exams or just lying on the grass outside, side-by-side.

It was perfect.

Nora cherished every second she had with them. Ren’s pancake breakfasts, Pyrrha’s gym sessions in the evening, Jaune’s video game battles. She wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Deep down, she desperately wanted Pyrrha’s idea of spending the holidays with her and Jaune’s families to happen, not just because it sounded fun and she wanted to meet everyone, but the idea of possibly being separated in the time between first and second year made Nora’s chest _ache_. She and Ren could stay at Beacon, since they had nowhere else to go, yet the thought of being so far away from Jaune and (especially) Pyrrha, of losing what they have even temporarily, was heart-breaking.

She loved them. She loved them so much thinking about it made her dizzy. And they were teetering on the edge of something; they were so _close_ to shifting again from friends to something more. Nora knew they felt it too – in how they wrapped themselves in each other’s arms at night, in how for the past month or so they’d started wearing each other’s clothes, in how they were all holding each other right now – and they were going to fall any second.

The thought was both exhilarating and terrifying.

“You okay there?” Jaune asked, distracting Nora from her thoughts as he lightly poked her between the eyebrows and causing Pyrrha to stifle a giggle.

“Oh, I’m _fantastic_ , absolutely _wonderful_ ,” Nora drawled, mouth set in a wide, goofy grin. “What about you?” She resumed threading her fingers through the crimson strands spilling down Pyrrha’s shoulders, and Nora hummed when Jaune began softly brushing her bangs out of her face.

“Never better.” Pyrrha made a soft noise of agreement, and, even though they were still convinced he was asleep, it sounded as if Ren murmured the same into the back of Nora’s hair. Nora felt Ren hum and stir behind her as Jaune reached past to stroke his fingertips on the side of Ren’s head, and sighed contentedly and closed her eyes. She could very happily spend the rest of her life like this.

She wasn’t even thinking when Jaune brought his hand back round to ruffle her hair and brushed his fingers against her cheek, and didn’t even realise the words she was whispering.

“I love you guys.”

It was only when she felt Jaune and Pyrrha freeze and Ren, who had apparently _not_ been asleep, sit up straight Nora’s brain finally caught up to her mouth. Her eyes flew open as she sat up too, blue and green eyes staring widely right back at her own. “Nora?” Pyrrha asked quietly.

“I, uh. I can, um, I can explain,” Nora stammered. This was strange to her. For someone who usually wore her heart on her sleeve and would never hold back saying what she felt, it felt weird for her mouth to suddenly feel dry and words get stuck in her throat. This was her _team_. She could do this. But being the one to do the final push was so daunting.

Pyrrha gently placed a hand on her knee and Ren twined his fingers with hers. Jaune smiled warmly at her. “It’s okay,” he reassured her. “Take your time. We’re listening.”

“Thank you,” Nora whispered. Deep breaths. Think about what to say. This was Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren; they would never laugh at her, or mock her. She could definitely do this.

One last deep breath, and Nora fidgeted a little in her precarious spot on and between Jaune and Ren’s laps. “I –” she started, quietly and staring at her legs. “I meant what I said. You guys … you’re so wonderful and amazing and,” she tightened her grip slightly on Ren’s fingers, “I love you. I’ve never been happier in my life than when we’re together. And you feel it too, right? I mean, we’re always just … with each other, all the time, and we’re always so happy. We always sit huddled together when we’re not in class, and hold each other at night, and even when we’re just hanging out together like this, it just feels … right.” Another deep breath. Almost there. So close, _so close_ , and it was terrifying. She felt Pyrrha give a comforting squeeze on her knee, and Nora realised she was trembling slightly. “What I’m saying is … I want to spend the rest of my life like this with you, all of you. Just, do everything together, with you. Um, _together_ -together. If you want to, obviously, it’s okay if you don’t.” Her voice wobbled with the last statement, but there it was. It was out there. Now it was just a matter of which way they were going to fall.

The silence was too loud and lasting too long. Nora felt apologetic rambling building up in her throat, ready to retract everything, when she heard Jaune clear his throat and she looked back up. His eyes were still wide, but now shining, and his cheeks and ears were tinged pink, and in front of him Pyrrha’s face had lit up a brighter shade than her hair. She was pretty sure Ren was blushing too, feeling a soft warmth from where his cheek was resting on her skull. “You want to be together,” Jaune said slowly, tone coated in what sounded like disbelief. “With all of us?” Nora found she couldn’t speak anymore, so just nodded as the quiet began to seep in again.

“Yes.” All three of them jumped when Ren, who hadn’t said a word since the beginning of the movie nearly three hours ago, suddenly piped up.

Nora couldn’t do much besides blink up at him, her brain hardly processing his answer. “What?”

“I said yes,” Ren said, a small smile quirking at the corners of his mouth. “I love you and I want all of that, too. If you’ll have me.” She felt his smile widen and posture relax as he pressed a kiss into her hair, giggling when it tickled a little. Before either of them could say any more, Jaune cleared his throat again.

“I … Me too,” he said slowly. “I want to be with you all, I have for a while. I just never said anything because, I dunno, I was scared you didn’t feel the same way? And I didn’t want to ruin our friendship and what we have now or make any of you uncomfortable or that I was just imagining it all and –” His babbling ceased when Nora and Ren leaned more into him, and he chuckled. “But yeah. I love you guys, and I’d love to have that with you for the rest of my life, too.” Jaune was grinning, his trademark bright and happy smile, and leant down to press his forehead to Ren and Nora’s.

And then the silence from their final teammate became too obvious to ignore. Pyrrha had barely moved since Nora had spoken, looking as if her brain had short-circuited and she hadn’t even _blinked_ in that time. “Pyrrha?” Nora asked, concerned, as Jaune moved his hand from her shoulder to brush the shell of her ear. Pyrrha startled, deer-in-headlights filling her eyes, but she was back in the room and seemed to only now be processing what was happening.

“I … you … I don’t,” she stuttered, struggling to get her words out while looking like she was on the verge of tears.

Nora swallowed down her own unease. “Pyrrha, if you really don’t want to, it’s okay,” she said quietly, even if it was a lie and the thought of it being true hurt more than any injury she’d picked up fighting a Grimm.

“No,” Pyrrha said. When she saw the looks on her teammates’ faces, she realised what she’d implied, and suddenly what she wanted to say clicked into place. “No, I mean yes! Yes! A million times yes! I would love nothing more for the rest of my life.” A sound somewhere between a laugh and sob bubbled out of her throat. “I just – I never thought you’d feel the same way about … _me_.” The three of them knew what she meant, that Pyrrha had a lot of built up anxiety of how her connections with people were (usually negatively) affected by her celebrity status, and they all reached for her at the same time.

“Is your leg okay?” Jaune asked. Pyrrha tilted her head, confused, and nodded. “Then what are you waiting for? Get in here.” Pyrrha chuckled as Jaune helped lift her so she was now properly in his lap, and held close by the people she loved more than anything.

They stayed like that for what could have been hours, heads against each other and wrapped in each other’s arms, letting everything sink in. Pyrrha was still sniffling a little, but was smiling and chuckled as Ren drew circles and spirals on her bicep with his finger. “I guess we’re together-together,” she whispered against Jaune’s collarbone. “I can’t believe it.”

“Hell _yeah_ , you better believe it,” Nora said; Pyrrha snorted as the smaller girl booped her nose once again and Jaune kissed her temple.

“You should,” Ren murmured, and the three of them pulled away from their huddle only far enough that they could see his face. “We love you, Pyrrha, because you’re _you_. And who _you_ are is so beautiful, inside and out, and _you_ _deserve_ to be loved for that.”

If Ren had wanted to say any more, he was cut off by Pyrrha as she pressed her lips to his, leaning forward so quickly none of them even reacted for the first few seconds. It wasn’t until Ren had shut his eyes and let one of his hands float up to hold Pyrrha’s jaw that they realised what was happening; all of them were blushing furiously, Ren and Pyrrha especially so as they smiled, pulling away from each other.

Nora started giggling. “You guys are so _cute_ , oh my gods,” she said, and giggled again when the taller girl tried to hide the pink burning across her face and ears in her hands, Nora taking them in her own.

“They certainly are,” Jaune agreed. There was a hum of a laugh in his throat as he brushed some of Ren’s hair behind his ear, the latter leaning into the touch with a sigh.

“Hey ‘fearless leader’, I think it’s our turn,” Nora said, grin mischievous and eyebrows wiggling.

“Wh-” Jaune didn’t have time to even get a whole word out before Nora had released Pyrrha’s hands and tangled both of hers in Jaune’s hair and pulled him into a kiss. Powerful and sweet and so intrinsically Nora, Jaune couldn’t help the contented gasp that bubbled out as he responded in kind, one arm keeping her steady and the other wrapped around Pyrrha’s waist, holding her against his chest.

Until, much to Nora’s surprise, Jaune suddenly pulled back, sputtering. “Ren, stop, that _tickles_!” he gasped as he burst out laughing. Nora blinked up to see Ren now leaning properly against their leader, pressing quick, light kisses where the edge of his jawline disappeared by his ear as Jaune near shrieked laughing. She fought off a laugh of her own, before making a show of pretend upset.

“Hey,” she pouted, lightly poking Ren in the chest. She’d wanted to at least drag it out a little, but cracked as soon as Ren raised an eyebrow at her, and Nora finally began laughing too. “You could have at least asked first.” Ren held her gaze as he kissed behind Jaune’s ear again, and she stuck her tongue out at him as the blonde continued laughing.

“Well, if they’re not going to give you attention, I _gladly_ will,” Pyrrha smirked. She surged forward and looped her arms around Nora’s waist, dragging the small redhead onto her lap. But the sudden movement made them lose their balance and sent both of them tumbling to the floor, Nora shrieking in delighted giggles as Pyrrha peppered her face with kisses. Still within their blanket pile, their partners – now in every sense of the word, for all of them, and everything be damned if that didn’t make Nora’s heart sing – chuckled at their antics, Ren now sprawled on Jaune’s lap. There was a brief murmur among them checking Pyrrha’s knee was okay, before Nora blew a single raspberry against the taller girl’s neck in retaliation and they both moved back towards Jaune and Ren.

Realising the time and that they had a class in the morning, the four of them reluctantly vacated their blanket fort and moved to bed, already having changed into their pyjamas before settling in for the movie, for once not bothered at all about not cleaning up. Pyrrha had squeaked a little in surprise when Jaune picked her up in a bridal carry, claiming he was ‘watching out for her knee’ before moving to kiss her briefly, Ren and Nora chuckling and staying close at either side of him. Working out a comfortable arrangement on the bed had taken a short while, trying not to tangle their limbs too much or the three of them possibly squashing Nora as they re-learned how to hold each other, now closer.

They eventually settled with Jaune in the middle, on his back, with Ren draped across his chest from his left side. Pyrrha was resting her head on his shoulder to his right and Nora snuggled between the two of them, not quite using his abdomen as a pillow; the girls’ arms thrown over and wrapped around their boyfriends. “Are you sure you’re comfortable like this?” Ren asked, looking up at Jaune while tracing lines on his collarbone.

“Yeah, I’m good. Great, in fact.” Jaune grinned, soft and a little goofy, and ruffled Ren’s hair in reassurance.

Nora snickered. “Glad to hear it,” she said, booping his nose, before shifting to rest her chin on his stomach. “So … what are we gonna do for our first date?” She felt a huff of a laugh from Pyrrha behind her, and Ren moved over to peck the tip of her nose before laying back down.

A hum rumbled gently in Jaune’s chest as he thought. “We could go to that fancy restaurant by the pier in Vale this weekend,” he suggested. “I know it’s not original or anything, but we could head to the arcade after, or hang out at the beach.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Ren mumbled, a dozy smile on his face as he yawned and nuzzled his head under Jaune’s chin.

“I agree,” Pyrrha said. “Though perhaps we should discuss this more in the morning.” She pressed a sleepy kiss to the nape of Nora’s neck.

“Fine,” Nora whispered, and wriggled back to her position against Jaune’s side. “Goodnight, guys. I love you.” The ‘I love you too’ that echoed from her partners settled warm and happy in her heart, and she was going to hold that feeling there for the rest of their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are muchly loved and appreciated!! <3


End file.
